ICC Says Can Rule on Rohingya Deportations From Myanmar

The International Criminal Court said Thursday it had jurisdiction to probe the forced deportation of Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar’s military as a possible crime against humanity.

Some 700,000 people from the stateless Muslim minority have fled Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh since August last year to escape a bloody military crackdown, AFP reported.

The ICC’s “pre-trial chamber... decided by majority the court may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportations of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh”, the Hague-based tribunal said in a statement. The ruling offers “a glimmer of hope for justice” for Rohingyas who “continue to suffer in Bangladesh as a result of this serious crime,” Adilur Rahman Khan, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights, said in a statement.

The move comes days after UN investigators called for an international investigation and prosecution of Myanmar’s army chief and five other top military commanders for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Rohingya.